The IRDAI has issued guidelines to life, general and health insurers as well as insurance repositories on how they can share information with account aggregators (AA).
Account aggregators, which are to be registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), are non-bank financial companies that collect or retrieve financial information from various entities called Financial Information Providers (FIPs) and consolidate, organise and present such information to the customer or any other Financial Information User (FIU) in one place.
Once fully functional, policyholders, savers, and investors can register on any of the above platforms and get their bank account, mutual fund, insurance, investment, and other financial data stored in one place.
The circular states that insurers can share information with AAs only after obtaining the explicit consent of the customers.
A FIP includes insurance companies or insurance repositories, says the IRDAI in a circular issued on 14 November 2022 on AAs.
The circular stipulates that:
- FIPs in the insurance sector shall enter into a contractual framework with the AAs, and the same shall distinctly specify the following:
a. Rights and obligations of each party
b. Modalities of the dispute resolution mechanism
- FIPs in the insurance sector are expected to adopt technical specifications published by Reserve Bank Information Technology Private Limited (ReBIT), as updated from time to time, and adopt the required Information Technology (IT) framework and interfaces to ensure secure data flows to AAs. The technology should also be scalable to cover any other AA as may be specified by the RBI in the future.
- There shall be adequate safeguards built into the IT systems of FIPs in the insurance sector to ensure that the systems are protected against unauthorised access, alteration, destruction, disclosure, or dissemination of records and data.
- The FIPs in the insurance sector shall also abide by the code of conduct as specified in the IRDAI regulations/guidelines/circulars applicable to them, including redressal of grievances of customers.
- The FIPs in the insurance sector shall continue to comply with all the regulatory provisions under the Insurance Act 1938, IRDA Act 1999, and the regulations/guidelines/circulars framed thereunder. The FIPs in the insurance sector must disclose prominently on their websites the names of the AAs through which the information is shared.
The provisions of the circular entered into force on the date of promulgation which was 14 November 2022.
The guidelines are seen as part of moves taken to prepare for the launch next year of Bima Sugam, a platform backed by the IRDAI for insurance repositories, companies, intermediaries, customers, and broker associations so that everything can be done in real-time by integrating the ecosystem on one technology platform. Bima Sugam will also serve as a digital insurance marketplace for comparing, selling, and servicing insurance policies across life, general, and health insurance.
